Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) Reading and Education Evaluation Services

Latin America and the Caribbean Reads (LAC Reads)—an initiative funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—is working to improve both literacy and access to education in conflict areas, especially among groups of disadvantaged children and youth in conflict areas. Mathematica is leading one component of the LAC Reads initiative, the LAC Reading and Education Evaluation Services project. Under this project, Mathematica is conducting impact evaluations of four reading interventions in Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Nicaragua, and three non-experimental studies including a performance evaluation of workforce programs for at-risk youth in El Salvador, an evidence review on the effects of education on violence, crime and related outcomes, and annual reports tracking of workforce development progress in Central America.

Through the interventions we tested, we have expanded the evidence base on which in-school and community-level approaches work best and for whom, to improve early grade reading and education outcomes in the LAC region. As we continue to work with USAID to uncover insights from LAC Reads, we began dissemination efforts to share this expanded education evidence base with researchers, policymakers, educators, and people around the world, so that the evidence can be used to better support early learners, youth, their schools, and their communities.

The LAC READS project includes 7 evaluations in 5 countries: